WHY ARPAIO'S
GOTTA' GO

WHY ARPAIO'S GOTTA' GO

Their Blood, Our Money

In 1996 a young man named Jeremy Flanders was beaten nearly to death by
fellow inmates in Tent City. He was put on life support and during
that time his head had swollen so badly that it nearly swallowed his ear
on one side. Flanders, who was well behaved and a favorite of the
guards, sustained permanent brain damage as a result of his injuries. The
weapon used to beat Flanders was a rebar tent stake. These rebar
tent stakes which were easily removed from the ground were often used as
weapons, a problem easily remedied by cementing the stakes into the ground. In
his stinging 26 page opinion Judge Jefferson L. Lankford stated that “The
sheriff and his deputies had actual knowledge that prisoners used
rebar tent stakes and tent poles as weapons and did nothing to prevent
it.” He went on to say, “The sheriff admitted knowing
about, and in fact intentionally designing, some conditions at Tent City
that created a substantial risk of inmate violence: i.e., the lack of individual
security and inmate control inherent in a tent facility; the small number
of guards; a mixed inmate population subject to overcrowding, extreme heat,
and lack of amenities. The history of violence, the abundance of
weaponry, the lack of supervision, and the absence of necessary security
measures supports the jury’s finding of deliberate indifference to
inmate safety.” The appeals court awarded 635,000 dollars to
Flanders. Arpaio was held personally liable for thirty-five percent
of the judgment.

That same year, Scott Norberg died of positional asphyxia after being
beaten and forced into a restraint chair by guards. Norberg was tased more
than twenty times although he was fully subdued and posed no threat to
the officers. Research by the (ABC) 20/20 investigative staff
indicates that the officers involved knowingly ignored signs that they
were killing Norberg.

Although many healthy men and women have exited Arpaio’s jails in
a gurney, it seems that the infirm and disabled are at particularly high
risk in Maricopa County’s gulags. In fact, in some cases, it
seems that they are singled out for abuse.

Deborah Braillard was a diabetic inmate who was denied her insulin for
over two days. When her constant moaning became too much for her
cellmates to bear, the guards moved her to an empty cell where she could
writhe in pain alone. She died in the hospital.

Mentally handicapped Charles Agster, who weighed only a hundred and thirty-two
pounds, was arrested on loitering charges after refusing to leave a convenience
store. He was taken into the prison hogtied and wrenched so tightly into
a restraint chair that he died within minutes. Although Arpaio admits
no wrongdoing, he refuses to let the family of Charles Agster see the surveillance
footage of their son being put into the restraint chair.

Paraplegic, wheelchair-bound Richard Post was arrested for being disruptive
in a bar. After some time in a cell he complained to the guards that
his catheter was full. He flushed the toilet several times in order
to get their attention. Instead of giving him medical care the guards
strapped him into the restraint chair so tightly that they broke his neck. He
is now a quadriplegic.

A blind inmate, Brian Crenshaw, who refused to show his identification
card in a lunch line, was savagely beaten by guards and left in his cell
for six days without medical treatment. Despite overwhelming evidence
to the contrary, Arpaio insists Crenshaw suffered ruptured intestines,
a broken neck, several broken toes, and extensive internal bleeding from “falling
off a bunk” a little over four feet high.

And although the counterproductive barbarism of Arpaio’s reign should
be the paramount issue it seems that money is the only thing that will
pique the interest of Phoenician reporters. The attitude of our local
press is best represented by the closing comment in an Arizona Republic
article by Ed Montini -- “The Rising Cost of Indifference in Arpaio’s
Jails.” When referring to the county supervisor's apathy to
the horror stories leaking from the walls of Arpaio’s prisons and
jails he said that their indifference “…would be fine only
if all of this wasn't paid for with our money.” But
now that the cost of Arpaio’s incompetence is mounting even the Arizona
Republic is regularly printing anti-Arpaio articles.

Even though it seems cold to transcribe these tragedies into the language
of dollars and cents it is unfortunately necessary to do so because their
blood and our money are irreversibly intertwined. When inmates die
or suffer permanent injury so needlessly, they or their families seek damages.
The lawsuits resulting from the inhumane treatment of prisoners in Arpaio’s
dungeons represent the largest portion of the mountainous debt that will
be paid in the decades after Arpaio’s irresponsible reign. The appeals
court awarded 635,000 dollars to Flanders, 30% of which Arpaio had to pay
personally. The Norberg family received an 8.5 million dollar settlement
on their son’s behalf. Michael Manning, the attorney for the
Norberg family, is suing on behalf of Braillard’s son and father
for 20 million dollars. The family of Charles Agster is seeking 25
million. Maricopa County paid Post 850,000 dollars for his injuries
and the Crenshaw family is suing as well.